Post updated at 8:51 p.m. Monday, Jan. 8:
The Lawrence school board’s meeting came to an abrupt end Monday evening after a bomb threat was reported to have appeared on Facebook.
The Lawrence Police Department evacuated the meeting shortly after the swearing in of five new members of the Lawrence school board.
Board President Kelly Jones said after the meeting that police had alerted Superintendent Anthony Lewis of “likely a non-credible threat” of a bomb at the school district office, where the meeting was held.
The interruption came during remarks by board member Carole Cadue-Blackwood. Jones interrupted her and apologized before saying, “We’ve had something come up that will require that we move on to the consent agenda and save comments.”
Board members swiftly voted to approve their consent agenda, followed by a vote to adjourn the meeting. Jones then asked everyone present to exit so that police could secure the district offices.
“As a board president, this isn’t the way I wanted to welcome the new board members,” Jones said after the meeting. “It’s disruptive to board business and it creates a reminder that you’re not always safe in public service.”
Laura McCabe, a spokesperson for the Lawrence Police Department, said a non-specific threat had been made against the school board in a Facebook posting.
“We must take all threats seriously and will be investigating further, but we don’t like to publicly discuss non-credible threats like this because it brings more attention to the behavior, which encourages attention-seeking copy cats,” McCabe said.
Before the evacuation, five recently elected board members, including two newcomers, were sworn in.
Lawrence voters elected incumbents Carole Cadue-Blackwood and GR Gordon-Ross in addition to newcomers Yolanda Franklin and Anne Costello for four-year terms on Nov. 7. Incumbent Shannon Kimball also was reelected to a two-year term.
Gordon-Ross, who attended virtually Monday, took his oath of office last week, district spokesperson Julie Boyle said.
“I’m going to be really brief and focus on welcoming Yolanda and Anne,” Jones said to her colleagues. “I am delighted that you’re joining us. To Carole and GR and Shannon, you’ve been great board colleagues to us and I’m glad to have your insight and continued commitment to education and to our community.”
Franklin and Costello are filling the seats of past board members Erica Hill and Paula Vann, who did not run for reelection.
Ed Healy, deputy county clerk of elections, joined the meeting Monday to swear in the board members.
District administrators on Monday were scheduled to share a report with the board about proposed new graduation requirements, but Jones had already decided on Monday afternoon to postpone the report until the board’s Jan. 22 meeting because of inclement weather.
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Natasha Torkzaban (she/her), a contributor to The Lawrence Times since June 2023, is a recent graduate of Lawrence High School. She was an editor-in-chief of The Free Press at Free State High School before becoming an editor-in-chief for The Budget at Lawrence High School for 2023-24. Read her work for the Times here.
Maya Hodison (she/her), equity reporter, can be reached at mhodison@lawrencekstimes.com. Read more of her work for the Times here. Check out her staff bio here.
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